The following contrast of the state of things in 1857 with what it had been fifteen years before, indicates a preparatory work in no small degree encouraging. "Then, the missionary could hardly purchase here the necessaries of life; and when he left, he was followed by stones and execrations. Now, he is welcomed and honored. Then, fear kept even his friends from venturing to visit him; now, priests and even a bishop are ashamed not to return his calls. Then, the Protestant sect could not be vilified enough; now, it is spoken of with favor in public and in high places. The old Emir Beshir, once the persecutor and terror of Protestants, has passed away, and his dilapidated palace is used as barracks for Turkish soldiers. His prime minister, or secretary, who did much injury to the cause of evangelical religion, and whose mansion was, as it were, the stronghold of the enemy, is no more. What remains of this Ahithophel's house is the abode of the missionary, and furnishes apartments for Scripture schools, and a Protestant chapel. His sons-in-law were leaders in the movement which brought us to Deir el-Komr, and are among our firmest friends. His grandchildren learn the folly of popery by the knowledge of the Bible they acquire in our schools. "Time was, when every one trembled at the anathema of the clergy. Now, the latter dare not show their impotence by pronouncing it. Some of the people would be glad to be thus dissevered from a church which they abhor, for they would thus not only gain their end, but retain the sympathies of many who would else oppose them. Those who send their children to our schools, have been refused admission to the confessional and the eucharist; the Maronite bishop, however, has at length yielded the point, and tries to win, rather than compel. Their high school he has made free of charge, and has promised to open a girls' school beside. In the Greek Catholic communion, on the other hand, the men and some of the women remain "suspended;" yet they are of good courage, some glad of so excellent an excuse to get rid of the confessional, and others incensed at the glaring injustice that would admit the drunkard and the notoriously vicious, but exclude the respectable and the moral. We have here the anomaly of those being thrust out of the church, who are still its very pillars, its substantial supporters, whose names are known, and whose influence is felt, throughout the region. "We have reason to thank God and take courage. Still we long to see a work more purely spiritual. Light is being diffused, but there is not the corresponding religious interest. The truth is viewed by many as a beautiful theory, the heart remaining a flint. We have to regret the fact, that some of the best minds in the place are tinged with skepticism. Happily the most influential are, notwithstanding, our firm friends, and are in favor of good education and good morals."